Pulse
by gypsywriter135
Summary: Decades of searching, and when they least expect it, he comes crashing back into their lives. It was just his style.


Hi there!

I promised I'd give another go at a Transformers fic, and here I am. I hope you all enjoy this, as it's about the twins. :)

I didn't know where to put this story, either. So I decided with this one, because it IS about the twins.

It takes place a few months after "Revenge of the Fallen."

Disclaimer: I only wish Transformers belonged to me. If they did, Sunstreaker would have been in "ROTF"

**TRANSFORMERSROBOTSINDISGUISE**

"So, who exactly are these guys again?"

Ironhide looked down at his human charge, only to see Lennox looking up at him expectantly. The human had been dragged down to the desert on short notice, and grumbled the entire way out there, so he missed the briefing that Optimus had given earlier.

"Old friends," Ironhide rumbled.

"I wouldn't call them 'friends'…"

Ironhide and Lennox looked to their right to see Sideswipe sulking in the sand, Eppes watching him with something like humor on his face.

"Come on, Sides," Eppes said. "I thought you were real tight with these guys?"

Sideswipe revved his engine, the robot equivalent of snorting. " 'Tight' isn't exactly the word I use…" he muttered.

"You're just grouchy 'cause Prowl will finally be able to do something about all your pranks," Ironhide said.

Sideswipe glared at him. "Like having Ratchet around isn't bad enough…" he grumbled.

Lennox grinned.

Over the past few months, the humans had gotten used to the silver Autobot's pranks and tricks. Some of them, mostly Eppes, even helped the little punk on a few occasions. And every time, their favorite targets always seemed to be Ratchet and Ironhide.

So could you blame the old mech if he was happy that the one robot who could actually punish Sideswipe and not have anything bad happen to them afterwards was actually arriving?

After all, seven months of having to deal with him was a little much…

"Anyways…" Lennox said, looking back up at his guardian.

"Yeah," Ironhide replied. "There's Prowl, Prime's second in command, and who is the only one able to deal with the little son of a spark over here," he jerked his thumb in the direction of Sideswipe. The silver robot responded with a rude gesture. "There's also Wheeljack, who's Ratchet's best friend. He can make anything out of nothing."

"Yeah, if it doesn't blow up first," Ratchet muttered behind them.

"And then there's little Bluestreak," Ironhide continued, ignoring the yellow bot. "He's the best shot ever known to Cybertron. Can hit anything that moves."

"If you can get him to turn off his vocal processor first," Ratchet added.

Lennox and Eppes looked up at the ambulance-turned-robot.

"What's got you so grouchy?" Eppes asked.

Ratchet glared down at the two humans. He opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of engines interrupted him.

Bumblebee, with Sam in the driver's seat, pulled up next to them. Mikaela was riding Arcee and came to a stop beside's the yellow Camaro. Behind them came the towering form of Optimus Prime.

"Any news?" Ironhide asked.

Optimus shook his head. "Negative. It has been three days since Prowl radioed me. I would normally think that it shouldn't take this long, but this is the time that he confirmed their landing."

Ironhide nodded. "How's Jolt doing?"

"Much better, thanks to Ratchet," Optimus rumbled. "He is still feeling a bit weak, so he will not be joining us for tonight."

"Little slagger shouldn't have exerted so much energy during that last battle. All that electricity could have shorted out more main circuits than they did. Good thing I knew how to fix them."

"Come on, Ratch," Ironhide said. "He helped a lot in that battle and you know it."

The medic glared and opened his mouth to say something, but was once more cut off. This time by the bickering of Mudflap and Skids as they came tumbling over the hill, locked in a wrestling match. They were spitting insults left and right so fast, no one else could understand what they were saying.

Sam looked up at Bumblebee, who rolled his optics and walked over to the two of them. He grabbed them by the back of their necks and pulled them apart, before quickly slamming them together.

"Hey, no respect!" Mudflap whined, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, yous gotta be careful with us. We's special bots," Skids agreed.

A small growl brought their attention to Sideswipe, who had stood and was rolling away from the group.

"Sideswipe!" Ratchet called. "Get your aft back here!"

The smaller Autobot didn't turn around to face the medic when he gave another rude hand gesture.

"Sideswipe!"

"I will go and talk to him, Ratchet," Optimus boomed.

Ratchet nodded. The blue and red semi quickly caught up with his subordinate.

The humans watched him leave with curiosity. Lennox turned back to Ironhide and looked up at him questioningly.

Ironhide let his gaze linger on the two bots for a moment, watching as Sideswipe gestured madly at the twins. He was actually surprised that their little group couldn't hear the two of them yelling.

"What's with Sideswipe?" he heard Sam ask Bumblebee.

"I forgot that we didn't tell you," Ironhide said, letting Lennox and Eppes crawl into his hand before lifting them up and bringing them eyes level. Bumblebee did the same for Sam and Mikaela.

"Didn't tell us what?" Eppes asked.

"Sideswipe is actually a twin," Ratchet huffed. "Little slaggers were always-"

"Ratchet!" Arcee gasped. "Be nice! You know how hard it is for him!"

"Wait!" Mudflap piped up. "We's didn't know he's a twin like us!"

Ratchet nodded. "He is, but he's a little different from the two of you."

"What you mean?" Skids blurted. "We's both twins!"

"No, you see-"

"Autobots!"

The group turned to see Optimus hurrying towards them, Sideswipe following slowly.

"Prowl has just informed me that they have entered Earth's atmosphere! Get ready!"

"Don't say anything to Sideswipe," Ironhide said quickly and softly. "It's a sore topic."

There was an explosion nearby as something crashed to the ground. It was quickly followed by two more. The members of N.E.S.T. quickly ran up to where three figures emerged.

"Welcome to Earth," Optimus greeted.

Three forms made their way towards the group.

"Optimus, my old friend," one of them said. "It's good to see you."

"Prowl," Optimus replied, a smile on his face. "It has been quite a while."

The two robots shook hands. Optimus turned to the small robot next to him. "Bluestreak. How are you?"

"I'm quite well, thank you. And how are you? Is this planet okay? Who are these things? Are these the humans you mentioned in your message?"

"We can answer your questions later," Optimus said, chuckling. He turned to the third and final robot, who had fins on either side of his head. "Wheeljack. I see you are doing fine."

"Never better, Optimus." The fins flashed as he spoke. His optics roamed around the group until they fell on Ratchet. "I see you went with my advice and changed your paint color."

"I had no choice," Ratchet grumbled. "Don't think it had anything to do with you."

The one called Wheeljack smiled and stepped forward to embrace the medic. "It's been way too long, old friend."

They broke away and turned to the rest of the group. "And who are they?"

"Prowl, Bluestreak, Wheeljack," Optimus said. "I would like you to meet the members of N.E.S.T. You already know Ironhide, Ratchet, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Sideswipe."

"Sideswipe," Prowl said, optics narrowing.

"Prowlers." Sideswipe muttered.

"And this is Mudflap and Skids, the newest set of twins on our team."

"Sup?" they said in unison.

"And these humans are Captain Lennox, Sergeant Eppes, Sam Witwicky, and Mikaela Banes. Jolt is another new member, but he was injured in a fight earlier and is back at our base."

Greetings were exchanged before Prowl turned to his commander. "There is something I feel I should warn you about," he said. "On our way here, Wheeljack picked up a spark signature following us. We tried several times to communicate with it, but nothing ever happened. We are still unsure whether or not it is friendly or enemy."

Ironhide looked up at them. Everything seemed to stop.

"Wheeljack?" Optimus asked, turning to the inventor.

"It's true. No matter what happened, I couldn't get a response. The signature was weak as well."

"If my calculations are correct," Prowl intervened. (And Ironhide _knew_ that there was no way that they could be wrong). "He should be here in about thirty-six hours."

Optimus nodded. "Alright. We'll head back and see if Ratchet can analyze the readings and figure out who it is. In the meantime, let's get you three into alternate forms."

"Already ahead of you," Wheeljack replied. He quickly transformed into a silver minivan.

Bluestreak, who had been amiably talking to Bumblebee, took notice and followed his friend's lead, becoming a blue and white Mustang, and Prowl took the form of a small, black and white police car.

Optimus smiled. "Autobots!" He cried. "Transform and roll out!"

Ironhide and Bumblebee put the humans back on the ground before the sound of transforming filled the air. Eppes climbed into Sideswipe, Lennox into Ironhide, and Sam hopped into Bumblebee. Mikaela swung a leg over Arcee and the group headed back to their base.

* * *

"I just can't make heads or tails of it," Ratchet muttered, leaning back in his chair. Wheeljack sat hunched over the keyboard. "I mean, it's got all the components of a Transformer, but I just can't tell if it's an Autobot or Decpticon."

"It's almost like something's wrong with its systems," Wheeljack supplied.

"I don't know…" Ratchet sighed. "I feel like I should know who it is, because some of it looks so familiar. But I just don't know…"

"Wanna know what I think?" Wheeljack asked, leaning back as well.

"What?"

"I think that you've been a medic so long that all our signatures are mixing together."

"Why don't you just turn off your vocal processor."

A knock at their door interrupted their fun.

"Come in!" Wheeljack called.

Sideswipe opened the door and rolled in, two cans of energon in his hands.

"Prowlers wants you two to take a break," he said, handing the energon to them. "He says there's only two hours left before they get here anyways. He wants us all in top shape in case it is a Decepticon."

"Makes sense," Wheeljack said, taking a sip.

"I still wish I knew who it was though," Ratchet muttered.

"Maybe I can take a look?" Sideswipe offered.

Ratchet laughed. "You?! Please! You couldn't tell a human from an octopus!"

Sideswipe's optics had narrowed, but then his face contorted into one of confusion. "What's an octopus?"

"Exactly my point," Ratchet snorted.

Sideswipe's optics narrowed again and he leaned forward to stare at the screen. As he was reading, he felt his spark pulse. This was…

No…

He put a servo over his spark casing. As he read some more, his optics widened.

"No…" he whispered.

"What?" Ratchet asked, watching him.

"It… it can't be…" Sideswipe muttered.

"Can't be what?!" Wheeljack urged.

"Autobots!" Optimus' voice sounded throughout the base. "The unidentified spark has entered Earth's atmosphere! All bots report to the main hanger immediately!"

"Sideswipe, we have to go!" Wheeljack yelled, pulling on the silver bots arm.

"It's… it's…"

"SIDESWIPE! WHAT THE SLAG IS GOING ON?!" Ratchet screamed.

Sideswipe said nothing. Instead, he transformed on the spot and tore out of the room. Ratchet and Wheeljack followed.

When he reached the main hanger where the rest of the N.E.S.T. team was waiting, the silver bot sped past them.

"Sideswipe!" Prowl called.

"What's going on?" Optimus asked as Ratchet and Wheeljack came up besides him.

"I don't know!" Ratchet raged. "But he knows something about that robot! We need to get to him before he does something stupid!"

The rest of the team nodded and took off after him.

They reached the crash site in record time and transformed. There was the sound of scuffling going on and a pained cry.

From the looks of it, Sideswipe had tackled to newcomer, and the two of them were rolling around on the ground.

"Sideswipe!" Prowl yelled. Bluestreak and Ironhide took aim, guns trained on the mysterious bot.

"Don't shoot!"

And everything stopped. Sideswipe had the new robot pinned on the ground underneath him.

"Will you slagging get off me before you mess up my paintjob more than it already is?!" came a new voice.

"Where the slag have you been?!" Sideswipe yelled. "I've been looking for you for decades!"

"I'm sorry, Sideswipe. I was busy protecting your stupid aft from being discovered by Decepticons!"

"Well, why is our bond closed?! What'd you do to it? I thought you died!"

"Slagger! If I had died, then you'd be dead too! Now get off me!"

"Well, then! What took you so long?! You should have been here ages ago!"

"Sides, my paint is scratched, my armor is dented, there are several things wrong with Primus-knows-what inside of me, I just crashed onto an unknown planet and now have organic junk in my joints, and I took a fusion cannon to the chest-plate a few years ago. Get off of me!"

The new-comer bucked on the ground and sent Sideswipe into the air, where he flipped and landed gracefully a few feet away. He walked back over and offered a hand to the new robot, who took it and slowly got to his feet.

The members of N.E.S.T. stared. He was just as tall as Sideswipe, and was the same in almost every way. The only difference was that this newer 'bot was a dark, almost midnight blue color, and has small fin-like extensions protruding from either side of his head.

Sideswipe grinned and slung an arm over him, which the blue robot mirrored.

"Sun… Sunstreaker?" Ratchet breathed.

" 'Sup?" the new robot responded.

The medic, as well as everyone else seemed to be speechless. Finally, Optimus stepped forward.

"Sunstreaker. It has been a long time…"

"You bet your aft it has been," the newcomer snapped. "I was left for dead over there, Prime! It's taken me almost a century to get to this galaxy!"

Optimus' optic's widened.

"You mean…?" Prowl let the sentence hang in the air.

"No, I'm pulling your chain," Sunstreaker snarled. "The base was ambushed! All of us alive were taken prisoner! I was the only one left after three decades!"

"So… you've been…?"

"Trying to pick up bolt brains, here," Sunstreaker jerked his head in the direction of Sideswipe. "It was hard while our bond was cut off."

"Why _is_ our bond closed?" Sideswipe asked.

Sunstreaker scowled. "I took. A fusion cannon. To the chest plate," he said slowly and clearly. "It scrambled. Almost all of my systems."

"You son a glitch!" Ratchet exploded. "You let us all think you're dead! Did you ever have the common decency to, oh, I don't know, radio one of us and let us know what was going on?!"

"Listen, you!" Sunstreaker yelled back. "If I had radioed you, then the Decepticons would have picked it up and come looking for me! I was held captive for three decades! I WAS THE ONLY ONE LEFT! AND I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT ANYWAYS BECAUSE I TOOK A FRAGGING FUSION CANNON TO THE CHEST PLATE THAT DID MAJOR DAMAGE TO MOST OF MY CIRCUITS! I COULDN'T EVEN OPEN THE BOND I HAVE WITH SIDESWIPE BECAUSE I RISKED OFFLINING IF I DID! SO STEP THE FRAG OFF!"

It was quiet following that outburst. Sunstreaker stood away from his twin, fists clenched, optic's nothing but slits. Everyone stared at him. It was true. The robot looked like he had been fed through a blender and spat back out. His paint was scratched and he had dents everywhere. There was a giant black scorch mark on his chest, where it was slowly crumbling.

Suddenly, Sunstreaker's optic's dimmed slightly and he stumbled backwards. Sideswipe hurried forward to catch him as he collapsed slightly.

"Sunny!" Sideswipe cried.

"Sorry…" Sunstreaker whispered.

"Let's get him back to base," Optimus ordered softly. "Ratchet, you need to take a look at him as soon as possible."

The team was grave as Sideswipe hoisted his brother into Ironhide's truck bed. It was a little difficult, seeing as how he was much larger than the bed of the truck. Eventually, it seemed that he would have to ride on the back of Optimus. Sideswipe followed behind closely.

* * *

The base was unusually quiet. No one was doing anything but sitting around. Sam and Mikaela had gone home with Bumblebee and Arcee a few hours earlier, saying they would be back in the morning. Ironhide sat with Sideswipe, Prowl, and Bluestreak as Wheeljack and Ratchet repaired the damaged Sunstreaker.

"I can't believe they're all gone…" Bluestreak muttered, speechless for once in his life.

"I wonder what happened…" Ironhide thought out loud.

"I never knew… anything like that had happened…" Prowl agreed. "When we lost communications with Sector Delta, I figured they were having some problems. I never knew it was something as massive as that…."

"But what happened when they still didn't get in touch with you?!" Ironhide rumbled.

"I thought Optimus had heard from them…" Prowl said quietly. "There was nothing we could have done then anyways."

Sideswipe looked up as Ratchet came in, Wheeljack following him.

"He'll be fine," he told the worried Autobot. "He's a little tired and functioning a little slowly, but he's gonna be fine."

Sideswipe let out a relieved sigh. "Thank Primus…"

"He wants to see you," Ratchet said, a small smile on his face.

Sideswipe nodded and hurried out the door.

Ratchet watched him go for a moment, then sat down next to his friends. Mudflap, Skids, Lennox, and Eppes joined them.

"How bad was it?" Eppes asked.

Ratchet shook his head. "I was worried for a nanosec that I wouldn't be able to fix him. That fusion canon just barely missed his spark casing. It's a miracle he made it this long."

There was silence for a while before Lennox cleared his throat. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Earlier, you were saying how they were different from Mudflap and Skids…" he said. "How, exactly? And what's this bond and dying and stuff?"

"Oh, yeah," Ratchet replied. "I forgot that we never finished that." He looked at Mudflap and Skids. "You two are twins. You were both taken from the Allspark at the same time and given bodies by your creators. Ergo, twins."

Mudflap and Skids looked to each other, then back at Ratchet and nodded.

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are different. Transformer twins like yourselves are a rarity in themselves, but something like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker only happens once every few Millennia. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are spark twins. They were taken from the Allspark as one spark, intended for one body only. Upon removal from the Cube, that spark split in two. Ergo, spark-twins."

There was silence.

"So… they are one spark in two bodies?" Lennox asked.

Ratchet nodded. "Yes. And that bond they were talking about is something that baffles medics and scientists even to this day. It seems that spark-twins can communicate through a special bond, as well as feel their emotions and pick up their signature when other robots can't. It's essentially because they basically are one spark."

Lennox nodded. "So… what was Sideswipe was saying about dying?"

Ratchet looked grim. "Spark-twins… are very unstable. They've lived their whole lives together, and because they have half of a spark… if one dies, the other cannot live with half of it's spark missing…"

The silence following was even thicker than before.

"Tha's deep, yo…" Skids muttered. He unconsciously grabbed Mudflap's hand.

"I can't tell you how many times I almost lost one of them because the other was so far gone…"

Lennox looked thoughtful. "But… wouldn't it work the other way around, too? If one of them is healthy, wouldn't it keep the other from dying as quickly?"

Ratchet and Wheeljack looked at each other. "I never thought of that…" the medic whispered.

Ironhide gave Lennox a smile.

"Well, I gotta get home," Eppes said. "Who wants to give me a ride home?"

"It would be my honor," Ironhide chuckled, transforming. He opened a door. "Let's go."

"Hang on, I'll go with you," Lennox said, smiling. "Let me just grab some paperwork from my desk and I'll be right back."

"Hurry up, man!" Eppes called after him. "Lisa's gonna be mad at me if I'm late for dinner again!"

Lennox chuckled and rounded a corner.

As he walked down the corridor back from his office, he passed by Ratchet's infirmary. He peeked in as he passed.

Sideswipe was sitting next to his brother, who was lying down on a berth. They were both talking in hushed tones.

"I missed you…" Sideswipe said.

"I missed you too," Sunstreaker said. Lennox was surprised at how gentle his voice sounded.

"I got really worried when you closed our bond… especially without warning…"

"I didn't want to… But it was the only way to keep the Decepticons from finding out about you. They were new recruits and I didn't want them to find you…"

"But… what happened at the base?"

"Sides… do we have to talk about this now? Can't we just…"

"Sorry, bro. You can tell me on your own time."

Silence.

"I'm glad Ratch was able to fix you… I don't know what I would've… what I would've…"

"Ratchet only did part of it. It was you that kept me going all those decades ago… I needed to see you again…"

The two of them touched their foreheads together, eyes closed. Lennox heard the two of them hum softly.

"Sideswipe?"

"Ready?"

Sunstreaker nodded. The two of them opened their chest plates up. Sideswipe's spark suddenly shot out, merging in mid air with Sunstreaker's. It lit the whole room, the two brother's watching with small, happy smiles on their face plates. The whole spark then entered Sunstreaker's spark case, there was a flash of bright blue light, and then part of it flew back to Sideswipe. Sunstreaker looked…

He looked brand new.

"Thanks, bro," Sunstreaker muttered, touching his forehead to his twin's again.

"Sleep, Sunny. I don't want Ratchet taking my head off because you didn't recharge properly."

"As long as you stay here. I just got you back. I'm not gonna lose you again."

"I'm not going anywhere. I just got you back, too."

Lennox ducked out of sight, feeling like he should give the brother's their privacy. When he got back to the main hanger, Eppes glared at him.

"What took so long?"

"Sorry. I had trouble finding the file…"

Lennox climbed into Ironhide's cab and the black Autobot rolled out the hanger.

"Hey, you okay, man? You seem… distant…" Eppes asked, waving his hand in front of Lennox's face.

"Yeah, I'm…" Lennox smiled. "I'm fine."

He never told anyone what he had seen. The twins were different… they were closer than any of the robots he had seen. He felt like he had witnessed something special and private between them…

He felt like everything seemed to be right in the world.

**TRANSFORMERSROBOTSINDISGUISE**

Let me tell you how much trouble this story gave me. First of all, I never realized how difficult Transformers was to write. And secondly... there are just SO MANY OF THEM. This is the third draft of this story. I ended up combining the two I had originally written into this one... and I'm still not satisfied. The beginning... I had no idea how to start it, and I still don't like it. And then ending... I knew how I wanted to end it, but it didn't work as well as I planned.

All in all... I think this story could have gone better. It just feels way too choppy and rushed in places...

So please, reviews welcome! Just... easy on the flames, please!


End file.
